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  1. Tracks
  2. Saba
  3. Bucket List Project
  4. Photosynthesis

TRACK

Saba

Photosynthesis

Release date: 27th October 2016

From Bucket List Project
Spotify
More on Saba

About This Track

Saba sketches survival and ambition across this track with Jean Deaux, who threads the hook with a refrain of arrival and compromise. The beat shifts noticeably from the rest of the album, anchoring Saba's reflections on making it alive on the West Side whilst still rooted in his mother's house, the weight of youth dying in his neighbourhood pressing against the small victories of having overcome it all. He moves between scales of aspiration and reality. A tour bus is a dream; the minimum wage is a fact. Demons sit alongside the everyday struggles of the people he loves. The song builds toward a kind of defiant clarity, Saba writing with precision about conscience, about not wanting to fight, about the gap between what he meant and what gets heard. Jean Deaux's voice lifts the chorus into something like grace, a moment of recognition that glare can blind you even when you've made it through.

"Photosynthesis" is a track by Saba, from the album Bucket List Project, released 27th October 2016. Full lyrics are available below.

About the Artist

Saba

Saba

Lyrics

Photosynthesis

[Intro: Jean Deaux]

Got it, I got it, oh

Say what you're looking for, 'cause I got it, yeah, ayy

I got it, I got it, oh

I got it, yeah

[Chorus: Jean Deaux]

Oh yes I made it alive, Lake Shore Drive, headed to paradise

In this moment of mine, I can't recognize

Or see that the glare is bright

And what you compromise, I almost died

I doubt the water is red as mine

[Verse 1: Saba]

Ayy, how you lonely in a room with God?

Never slow up, not even a pit stop

Praying my niggas'll never get caught

Overcame it all, like I'm some big shot

Was taught to be a man, up to the wrist watch

To the collar shirt tucked, with the front pocket

Part of adolescence when they go blossom

When your stars align, I hope there's no comet

So far it's...

Oh yes, I made it alive, on the West Side

Still at my momma house

The kids on my conscience now

'Cause the youth dying and it's just more common now

Common ground, stuck through it all like we Carmelo

Comin' down, high off of life, arrive unannounced

Summonin', numbin' the pain of when I'm in doubt, high school

My head in the clouds, like I learned about

[Chorus: Jean Deaux]

Oh yes I made it alive, Lake Shore Drive, headed to paradise

In this moment of mine, I can't recognize

Or see that the glare is bright

And what you compromise, I almost died

I doubt the water is red as mine

[Post-Hook: Jean Deaux & Saba]

What are you looking for?

I got it (I got it)

I got it (I got it)

All the things you adore

I got it (I got it)

I got it (I got it)

[Verse 2: Saba]

Runnin' through my city like a tour bus

Hopin' one day I can have a tour bus

I can see the planets from my window sill

And I tend to tell what is honest

I don't wanna fight no one, no contest

I just wanna undress my conscience

I just met a killer that's bent in his ways

Try to raise a family with minimum wage, what can I say?

Besides the demons, it's reality for the people that we love

And we are the ones that will team up and tee up the party

Dead end the school, bet that they'll show up real tardy

The audience awfully ready and rowdy

I meant it if I said it, you get it in writing

Got into a science, but write with the lightning

Like soil, I'm grounded, the seed has just sprouted

[Chorus: Jean Deaux]

Oh yes I made it alive, Lake Shore Drive, headed to paradise

In this moment of mine, I can't recognize

Or see that the glare is bright

And what you compromise, I almost died

I doubt the water is red as mine

[Post-Chorus: Jean Deaux & Saba]

What are you looking for?

I got it, I got it (show what you want)

I got it, I got it (show what you want)

All, the things you adore

I got it, I got it (show what you want)

I got it, I got it (show what you want)

Show what you want, show what you want

Show what you want, show what you want

[Outro: Billy Williams]

I just wanna be the plug so my people can eat

I just wanna play soccer on rooftops in Tokyo

I just wanna find somewhere I don't gotta put a face on for people no mo'

Yours truly, Billy Williams

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From Bucket List Project

2016
Listen
Album
Bucket List Project
Bucket List Project
Saba
Release year
2016
  1. —Symmetry
  2. —California
  3. —American Hypnosis
  4. —Bucket List
  5. —Church / Liquor Store
  6. —GPS
  7. —Westside Bound 3
  8. —The Billy Williams Story
  9. —Stoney
  10. —Photosynthesis
  11. —MOST
  12. —In Loving Memory
  13. —Photosynthesis
    3:22
  14. —MOST
    3:33

More from Saba

Albums & EPs

CARE FOR ME
CARE FOR ME
2018
Mrs. Whoever / Something in the Water
Mrs. Whoever / Something in the Water
From The Private Collection of Saba and No ID
From The Private Collection of Saba and No ID

Explore

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  5. Airplane Mode
  6. Back in Office
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  8. BENT
  9. BIG PICTURE
  10. Bizaram Az Dine Shoma (Women Life Freedom)

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Credits

Production & Engineering

Writer
Jean Deaux, Phoelix, Saba
Producer
Phoelix, Saba
Guitar
Jameson Brenner
Vocals
Jean Deaux
Additional Vocals
Phoelix
Lead Vocals
Saba
Mastering Engineer
Matt Wheeler
Mixing Engineer
Matt Wheeler
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